A season to remember: Profs shine in spring campaigns
A season to remember: Profs shine in spring campaigns
June 9, 2023
Rowan University's softball team punched its ticket to the NCAA Division III Softball World Series by winning the NCAA Ashland Super Regional. The Profs, who were 42-10, finished the season as one of the five top teams in the country. The University's athletics teams all enjoyed terrific spring seasons.
Sure, she would have loved to have ended the season with a national championship. But Kim Wilson still could not hold back the pride she felt for her players on Rowan University’s softball team.
“Obviously, it wasn’t the ending we would have drawn up for ourselves. But it’s been a great season. The kids stayed together. I think we had heart all season and we showed it,” said Wilson, whose team’s quest for a national title came to an end on June 3 when Rowan fell to top-ranked Salisbury in the NCAA Division III Softball World Series in Marshall, Texas.
The Profs, who finished the season at 42-10, punched their ticket to the World Series by winning the Super Regional on May 27. Then, they advanced to the double-elimination championship round, defeating eventual champion Trine handily before falling to Coe and Salisbury to end a stellar 2023 campaign.
Rowan earned an at-large bid to the Super Regional after the Profs lost in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship, winning the NCAA Marietta Regional and then capturing the NCAA Ashland Super Regional.
It was the seventh time the Profs advanced to the Softball World Series and the first time they’ve qualified since 2018. That her squad was one of only five top teams in the nation competing on intercollegiate athletics’ biggest stage isn’t lost on Wilson, who just finished her 27th year leading the Profs.
“There are so many teams that were at home and did not get the opportunity to experience this,” said Wilson, one of the winningest coaches in Division III softball history with more than 900 victories.
“We have fun,” Wilson said. “That’s who we are. It’s an honor to coach these players. They’re good human beings.”
This season, Rowan was led by a host of players, including sophomore pitcher Rylee Lutz, who went 23-6, was named NJAC Pitcher of the Year, and earned All-America Third Team Honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). Junior infielder Payton McNair was named the MVP of the Super Regional and also was named to the All-NJAC First Team.
Meanwhile, Lutz and Liz McCaffery were named to the NFCA Division III All-Region First Team, while Korie Hague, Cat Thomas and McKenzie Melvin were named to the Second Team.
McCaffery is a sophomore infielder/outfielder, while Hague is a fifth-year starting catcher who was named to the All-NJAC Second Team. Thomas, a junior pitcher/infielder was named to the All-NJAC First Team, as was Melvin a sophomore outfielder.
Hague, a Rowan Scholar-Athlete of Distinction, is the young squad’s lone senior.
“We came together, especially after losing our conference,” Hague said. “We showed that we deserved to be here. We fought to the very end.”
In December, Wilson will be inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame. She also was named the NJAC Dr. June Walker Coach of the Year for the ninth time and for the third straight season.
Additionally, the entire Rowan coaching staff, which includes Wilson, Mary Murray, Shilah Minerva, Ann Dailey and Megan Murzello, was named the ATEC/NFCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year for Region IV. Peer coaches select the honor.
In all sports, the Profs enjoyed successful spring campaigns, earning conference, regional and national honors individually and collectively.
The team had another stellar season, finishing tied for third in the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships and winning both the NJAC title and the All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Championship (AARTFC).
At the nationals, the Profs tied for third with John Carroll University of Ohio behind Wisconsin-LaCrosse and national champion MIT. Twelve Rowan athletes qualified for eight events in the championships.
The Profs relay teams had record-setting performances with both quartets setting new University records. The 4x100 team of Shamar Love, Jah’mere Beasley, Nana Agyemang, and Evan Corcoran finished second in the finals, while the 4x400 team of Love, Beasley, Marquise Young and Amara Conte finished third.
A senior, Beasley placed fifth in the 200 meters, earning his third All-America honor in that event and 10th overall. Juniors Young and Conte were seventh in the 400-meter hurdles and the 400 meter finals respectively to earn All-America honors.
Meanwhile, freshman Kwaku Nkrumah finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles and was named an All-American.
The NJAC title won by the Profs was their eighth straight and the 21st conference title in program history. The team’s NJAC champions included Agyemang (long jump); Conte (400 meters); the 4x100 relay team; senior Adonis McGee (high jump); Nkrumah (110-meter hurdles); and Young (400-meter hurdles).
Rowan’s AARTFC Championship was the second straight for the Profs. The victory was highlighted by Corcoran, a freshman, who won in the 100 meters.
For the second straight season, Coach Dustin Dimit was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Metro Region Coach of the Year. Dimit is in his eighth year coaching the Profs.
Coach Mike Dickson’s squad made its second straight trip to the NCAA Division III Super Regional, where the Profs ultimately fell to second-ranked Salisbury. Rowan, which won the regular-season NJAC title and earned an at-large bid to the championship, finished the year at 33-15.
The Profs were led by players who earned conference, regional and national honors.
Sophomore center fielder Phil Sedalis was named to the 2023 ABCA/Rawlings All-America Second Team, while junior lefthander Zach Grace was chosen to the All-America Fourth Team. Additionally, Sedalis was chosen for D3baseball.com’s All-America Third Team, while Grace was named to the Fifth Team.
Playing his first season for the Profs, Sedalis batted .413 and established himself as one of the nation’s top hitters, ranking third in the nation in hits and fourth in triples. He also was chosen to the All-NJAC First Team and earned All-America Third Team honors from D3baseball.com
Grace was 7-0 in 15 appearances for Rowan, notching 108 strikeouts, ranking him fifth in the nation. He also was named the Region 4 Pitcher of the Year by both the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings and D3baseball.com. Additionally, each organization named him an All-Region 4 First Team selection and he also received All-NJAC Honorable Mention.
Also garnering All-Region honors were infielders Anthony Schooley, a junior, and Tyler Cannon, a senior, who earned All-Region Second Team and Third Team honors respectively.
Named to the All-NJAC Team, Schooley, a third baseman, batted .371 this season and had 25 multi-hit games. Cannon, a second baseman, led the nation with 31 doubles while batting a career high .382.
The NJAC Coach of the Year this year for the second time, Dickson also was named Coach of the Year by D3baseball.com for the first time. Now in his ninth season, Dickson led the Profs to their second straight NJAC regular-season crown and their sixth straight appearance in the NCAA Regionals.
Six Profs represented the University at the NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships.
Two of those athletes—Emily Galvin and Jasmine Broadway—earned All-America honors.
Galvin, a senior, was national runner-up in the hammer throw, hitting a personal mark of 58.17 meters.
Meanwhile, Broadway, a sophomore, finished fifth in the 200-meter finals in the championships, making her the second athlete in program history to achieve All-American honors in that event.
Other athletes who qualified for the nationals included Promise Fadahunsi, Molly Lodge, Nevaeh Lorjuste and Kat Pedersen.
Rowan finished 17th in national competition and second in the NJAC Championship.
In the NJAC, Broadway, Lorjuste, Anna Sasse and the 4x400 relay team won conference titles. The relay team included Broadway, Lorjuste, Lodge and Pedersen.
In what was another winning season, the lacrosse team finished at 14-5 to match a school record for victories. The squad set school records for points scored and most points for 16-year Coach Lindsay Delaney.
Sophomore Molly Green was named to the 2023 USA Lacrosse Magazine Division III All-America Third Team. Additionally, she was named to the All-NJAC First Team and was chosen as the NJAC Midfielder of the Year for the second straight season. Green registered a career high 55 points with 25 assists and 30 goals.
Green earned intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association All-Region First Team honors along with senior Erin Renshaw. Jamie Cutrera and Katie Montenero were named to the All-Region Second Team.
Freshman attack player Elaina Corson was named NJAC Rookie of the Week six times this season, including for five straight weeks.